Louis Tussaud's Palace of Wax & three other attractions in Grand Prairie

Today I visited Louis Tussaud's and Ripley's believe it or not in Grand Prairie Texas. I went there partially because I enjoy such places but mostly because I wanted to check out the place. My kids have some time off during Thanks Giving and we also have out of town visitors with kids visiting us. This could potentially be a fun destination for them, and I wanted to get a good idea about how interesting and fun this museum is and how scary it is. I also wanted to see if there was anything objectionable on display.

Before I continue; this museum is listed as being located in Dallas. This is incorrect. It is located in Grand Prairie which is a suburb to Dallas. There is no Louis Tussaud wax museum in Dallas proper and the picture matches the Grand Prairie location perfectly.

About Louis Tussaud's Palace of Wax & Ripley's Believe It Or Not in Grand Prairie (suburb of Dallas)

I drive by this museum every day on my way to work but I have not checked out the place until now. Louis Tussaud's wax museum and Ripley's believe it or not in Grand Prairie is a fairly large museum. It features four different attractions Louis Tussaud's wax museum, Ripley's believe it or not, the Mirror Maze, and a new attraction called the Laser Race. It is larger than the Louis Tussaud's wax museum and Ripley's believe it or not in San Antonio, Texas, which I have visited on a number of occasions, however, unlike the San Antonio location it is not open in the evening and the location is not as good (the San Antonio location is just minutes away from the River Walk).

The museum also has a well stocked gift shop and a snack bar. The new Laser Race attraction consist of a large room that is crossed by laser multiple beams. You as a participant try to get across the room without breaking any laser beams, just like in Mission Impossible. Since some kids could do this, it cannot be impossible, but this was the only attraction I did not try. As Kung Fu Tze said, "wise man does not get hernia among laser beams".

Outside the museum there are three metallic dinosaurs, an Allosaurus (possibly Tyrannosaur), a Triceratops, and a Stegosaurus, which used to be part of the Natural History Museum of Dallas. The Natural History Museum of Dallas could not even afford to keep these metallic Dinosaurs so they became part of this museum instead. Kids often climb and sit on these Dinosaurs and no one seems to mind.

Louis Tussaud's Wax Museum

Louis Tussaud's Wax Museum has 200 life sized figures including all the Presidents of the United States, historical figures, figures from the Wild West, and famous contemporary actors, for example, Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood, Jennifer Lopez, Johnny Depp, Britney Spears, Demi Moore, Miley Cyrus, Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, and many others. It also features the passion of the Christ, the last supper, and the crucifixion. I think this display is fairly typical for Louis Tussaud Wax Museums, however, the one in Grand Prairie is both better done and less potentially offensive compared to the one in San Antonio.

Another feature that was better done in Grand Prairie compared to the one in San Antonio is the horror section. The horror section was surprisingly large and well done. Unlike some other locations there were no dressed up people trying to scare you, which I actually prefer. This is not a haunted house after all. The Wax Museum also featured a photography store where you could take photographs with your face on a variety of interesting figures. However, I did not see a Wax Hand stand. This is not the biggest Louis Tussaud's Wax Museum I've seen but I think it was relatively well done and I enjoyed it.

Ripley's Believe it or not

Ripley's Believe it or not features a variety of oddities and world records. The museum does that by using a combination of displaying artifacts, wax figures, posters, and movies. Here you can find things like the worlds smallest baseball player figure, the world's tallest man, people who can pop there eyes out, hang things in their eyelids, the craziest stunt men, the fattest woman, strange or amazing artifacts from around the world, some really disgusting bugs, and Salomon's mines. I have seen Ripley's Believe it or not in other places around the world and this one does not supersede other Ripley's Believe it or not, but it is as good as the other ones that I've seen.

The Mirror Maze

The Mirror Maze is a pretty crazy thing. The Mirror Maze is a maze with mirrors which are set at an angle so that the maze looks infinitely large. You can see hallways stretching into infinity but they are not really there. The mirrors are hard to see and therefore you cannot see where you need to walk. You might as well shut your eyes and feel your way through the maze because the mirrors will only confuse you. Another strange phenomenon is that you may suddenly see other people appearing in one or many mirrors even though you cannot see yourself in the mirrors most of the time. I started talking to a guy in a mirror only to realize he was behind me, not in front of me, but I still could not see myself. Finding the way out is actually quite a bit of a challenge and children should not go in the mirror maze alone. The children need to be accompanied by their parents so that they can help their parents to get out. Don't leave any parents behind.

Practical stuff

The museum is located off of I-30 between Dallas and Fort Worth. You get off at the Belt Line exit. The parking is free and large. It is never full. The museum is open every day of the year from 10AM to 5PM, except Saturday and Sunday when it is open from 10AM to 6PM. All attractions admittance for adults is $27.99 and $17.99 for children. Ripley's museum, the Wax Museum, and the Mirror Maze are all $18.39 for adults and $9.73 for children if you buy them separately.

Thoughts and Final Recommendation

The Louis Tussaud's and Ripley's believe it or not museum in Grand Prairie Texas is not open in the evening unlike the location in San Antonio and it is also slightly more expensive. The Grand Prairie location is also not close to anything else that is interesting. However, the Grand Prairie location has four attractions while the San Antonio location only has two. Considering that I liked the Wax Museum portion of the museum better than the one in San Antonio and considering the better Horror portion I think I would give the Louis Tussaud's and Ripley's believe it or not location in Grand Prairie Texas a better rate then the I would give the one San Antonio. Naturally it is not as big as the location in Hollywood but it is still a fairly good Wax/Ripley's museum. Since there is not a lot to do in the Dallas Fort Worth area you may want to consider this attraction if you are staying in the area for a while. I rate this museum by giving it four stars.